Poker Room Updates

4/15/2007:I finally checked out the new Aladdin/Planet Hollywood Poker Room (Pictured Above). Looks pretty nice. And the location is also prime … at the entrance to the casino.

4/11/2007:

Aladdin’s New Poker Room

The Aladdin finally completed it’s transformation over to “Planet Hollywood”. Supposedly the Poker Room has been re-done. I am going to go over there this weekend and see what’s changed. I’ve been having a pretty bad run of late and some of the fun has been sucked out of the game as I have been a bitch to the luck of some pretty bad players lately. Sure, I know it will even out in the end, but in the short term it sucks.

1/18/2007:

The Flamingo Goes High(er) Tech

I went over to the Flamingo Poker Room for a bit yesterday, and was greeted with a nice surprise. That blasted, antiquated paper list system is gone, the clipboard-wielding person at the podium ws gone, and they have finally gotten with the times and upgraded to a electronic/video list management system (pictured above).

This is great news, as it makes a great room that much better, and the new system is sure to attract more players, as it makes the room look much more professional, modern, and inviting than the decidedly “old school” feel that the room had going for it last year.

I think it is also another smackdown of that pesky “The Flamingo will be imploded” rumor.

The Pink Bird is going to be around for a nice, long time.

1/15/2007:

The 2006 Best Poker Room In Las Vegas Award Goes To:

The Venetian

I took a poll of myself, and the decision was unanimous. Having played in every poker room on the Vegas Strip more times than I care to count, the Venetian Poker Room wins hands down. Yes, it’s better than the Wynn. Yes it’s better than the Bellagio (much better actually). Yes, it’s better than the Mirage.

Why?

When you play there, you’ll know why.

The comfortable couch and TV to wait for a game (no railbirding), the spaciousness, the service, the lack of asshole podium people, it is simply the finest Poker Room in Las Vegas.

And if you disagree, then you are simply wrong.

Period.

Oh sure, every other “rate this” site will declare the Bellagio or some such the winner (you can’t go wrong with the ultra-safe choice picking the popular Bellagio or Wynn for the winner of anything), but if you believe me about nothing else, then believe this: The Venetian is consistently the finest poker room in Las Vegas regardless of the limit you play.

12/16/2006:

I played at the Venetian again, and wandered across the bridge to the T.I. Poker Room, and finally reviewed the T.I. Room here.

12/12/2006:

I played the Venetian for a couple of hours today. It was my first cash game since the Wynn session kind of made me want to take a week off. I always love coming back to this room. It is a breath of fresh air. A plush waiting area while your name is on the list, great waitresses, great staff, great equipment … just the best poker room in Las Vegas. I cannot even mention the Bellagio and the Wynn in the same sentence as “the V” anymore, because the Venetian is in a class all by itself. I need to start playing this room more often. I really don’t know why I bother going elsewhere. And I caught a monster hand too. My Kings over Queens beat the A-10 Broadway straight (the K on the river made both of our hands), and I got paid off on my all-in after my opponent thought for 10 minutes before calling me. No fish at the table, but the guy should have put me on Q’s or K’s since I was in position and had only seen the flop 3 times in about 150 hands. Thank goodness for tourists, because anybody who knows me would have put me on the boat in 5 seconds. Oh, and they bring you Fiji water in a big bottle!!! This place gives you what you want. My New Years resolution is to at least triple my Venetian hours.

12/3/2006:

Played the Wynn today, and had a bad feeling when I walked in the room. It’s getting a bit of a Bellagio feel to it. More snooty than I remember just a month previous, and about 5 people at the table were complete and utter assholes. Making snide comments to everyone, pretending to be professional players, yapping loudly on the phone to seem important, very unfriendly, just a real fake vibe. The joint was dimly lit, it was cramped, food carts all over the place. The players were complete shit, which is usually a good thing, but they must have had four leaf clovers shoved up their asses because the beats they were handing out were ridiculous. I finally went out when a player, who I will only refer to as “the douchebag” (really, he was), called a big bet and hit the turn. I was dealt Q-3o in the big blind and just checked it out (an easy muck if I had not been the BB), douchebag had been dealt 10-10 in the pocket. Flop came Q-3-J. I wanted to just pick up the small pot and go home up a few bucks that point, so I went all-in. Douchebag calls my AI with a middle pair with two overcards on the board, I was 91.5% to win at that point. I had not bluffed one time during the session. Turn was a 10, River was a rag. Fucking, fuck, fuck. If it had happened to a decent guy, then that’s poker, but this turdling was running his mouth and sucking out the whole session. And he did it yet again, without even thinking. Just pushed his chips in like he had the nuts. If this was online poker, I would have assumed collusion, not because of my mediocre beat, but because of the 5 runner-runner’s I saw him catch in the previous 2 hours to take down huge stacks. It really just didn’t feel right. Nothing about the whole session felt right. The staff, the room, the service, the players, I was just getting bad mojo from every angle. Feeling that way, I had no business taking a seat. So it’s my own fault.

10/31/2006:

Welcome to the brand spanking new Poker Room section of VegasRex.

There are are several changes being made.

Most notable is that for the most part, we will no longer state with certainty which games are being spread, nor will we post absolute tournament schedules. The reason for this is that these things become dated and obsolete almost as fast as we get them on the web. Most every card room in town spreads most every game that exists as long as interest is present. Gone are the days where the cardrooms spread only certain games with certain buy-ins. One room can be mostly 4/8 Limit at 4pm, and mostly 2/5 No Limit at 10pm. With a few exceptions, any site that claims to know what any room is spreading at any particular time is just guessing. You can find 4/8 Limit and 1/2 No Limit in just about every room in town. And usually one or two games with higher blind structures. After that, it’s anyone’s guess as to exactly what they will be running when you arrive.

We will try to give you the lowdown on what they spread when we visit the rooms, and we may make some educated guesses as to what you are likely to encounter, but we can’t claim that these are the exact games you will be offered when you arrive at the Poker Room.

Unless you are a super-high roller (in which case you should go directly to the Bellagio or Venetian), it is safe to say that whether you play Limit or No-Limit, you will find an acceptable game in any quality Poker Room near the Las Vegas Strip, Downtown, and some of the more popular off-strip properties.

However, when we get a hold of tournament flyers or promos, we will scan them in for your convenience since the rooms often do not post this information online.

Since all of these tournament’s and promos tend to change when the wind changes direction, in addition to browsing our information, we strongly encourage you to also click on the “official” websites for the Poker Room that we will always try to provide near the top of each room’s page. Those pages will ALWAYS contain the most up-to-date information about what is going on in the room.

Everything posted here are our experiences and our opinions. A bad room one day can be a great room the next day, and vice-versa. Your mileage can and will vary.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Good Luck!